Review

I have to admit, that it was a rather interesting
idea. Brian Helgeland wrote (and
directed) a rather straightforward story about a young squire, William Thatcher
(Heath Ledger) who poses as a knight to win jousting competitions across the
land. At the same time, he competes
with the "evil" Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell) for the affections of
the Princess Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon).
What made A Knight's Tale a bit different from any other film
with the same stock storyline is that Helgeland chose to mix modern rock songs into
the film. Just slapping them on top of
the music track wasn't enough - these modern songs actually exist in the
universe that is A Knight's Tale.
The film sported a rather medieval score by Carter Burwell, but the
soundtrack focuses almost exclusively on the songs instead.

The opening title sequence begins (appropriately
enough) at a jousting tournament. The
impatient crown is (literally) singing Queen's "We Will Rock
You". It's funny, because you have
no idea what this film is trying to do.
The obligatory training montage is covered by War's "Low
Rider", repairs are done to "Takin' Care of Business", and a
medieval dance number progressively gets hipper until they're dancing (modernly)
to David Bowie's "Golden Years".

Other songs used for effect (typically humor that
somehow manages to seem appropriate after a while) include Eric Clapton's
"Further On Up The Road", Rare Earth's rendition of "Get
Ready", Sly & The Family Stone's "I Want To Take You Higher"
and (for the climactic return to London at the end of the film) Thin Lizzy's
"The Boys Are Back In Town".
A "rousing" speech by Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany) to the
crowd is included, backed by Burwell's equally "rousing" underscore
in "One Of Your Own". It's a
nice little cue, but more score would have been nice. It's no surprise to say that Thatcher wins, and the film ends
with Robbie Williams + Queen's "We Are The Champions".

For extra measure, a few songs not in the film are
tossed on the soundtrack as an extra "bonus". I would have honestly preferred score, but
what can you do? One major flaw of A
Knight's Tale was that it really didn't go full bore with the modern jokes
and devices. So in the end, we had a
rather straightforward medieval jousting movie, with some modern songs tossed
in. For a truly full-bore experience, I
would have to recommend Moulin Rouge.
But A Knight's Tale isn't a bad compilation album, and if you
liked the songs in the film (and don't already have them from other sources),
you'll probably want to pick this one up.